Flashpoint in a Flash: Season 3 Episode 2: Never Let You Down

It’s a new day for the SRU, and there’s a new member on the team. Can the team solve a different crisis while still grieving over the loss of one of their own? Find out below – and for those of you wondering about the latest addition to the cast, we have briefly profiled her at the end of our summary! Click the jump below to read!



We begin in medias res with the following “cold open”! We see a young woman running through the woods, and Ed speeding in his SUV looking for a red Nebraska. Spike has a locator device, which picks up the car, which speeds up behind the woman. The driver catches up to her… and REWIND! 3 hours earlier… We are taken to an independent donut shop known as the “Dip and Sip”. Some hands pick up some pretty fancy pastries, which the young woman whipped up without her boss’s knowledge. She serves a man in a red shirt, and another woman in the shop. She is Zoe Granger, and she aspires to go to school and open up her own restaurant some day. Amongst the chatter with another waitress and the customers, another man walks in. He is Jeff, Zoe’s ex-boyfriend, and he wants to meet her, but she isn’t interested and refuses (even after he shows her a necklace)! He grabs her face and elbow hard. The other waitress threatens to call the police, and he lets her go, says they are not done, and leaves. A customer comes to her aid, but Zoe walks away and stops the other waitress from dialing the police. After, she pours another coffee for the male customer, Dale, but he says it is alright, pays her, and leaves. He seems like a warm man…

Meanwhile at the SRU, a memorial plaque has been put up in the men’s locker room, in memory of Lewis. Outside of Jules’ locker room, her sign is changed from Jules to Women. She looks at the sign, and turns away quickly, in sadness.

Zoe walks home, bit thinks she is being followed. She runs inside her apartment building, and rushes inside her apartment. She is relieved that it was only her neighbour following her, and goes to her washroom to wash out a stain in her shirt. She hears a knock at her door, and looks out the peephole. She opens it, looking a little sad. We are taken to the neighbour’s apartment just as Zoe begins screaming, and the neighbour calls the police. We hear a gunshot, and the neighbour’s dog begins barking.

Back at the SRU, Greg tries to pull the somber team together and plans for a day of light work and patrol. He introduces the newest member of the SRU, Leah Kearns. She bravely stands up and addresses the team, and empathizes with the group saying that she served with a firefighting unit that also lost one of theirs. She offers to lend an ear if they want to talk about it, but Jules cuts her off and says “We’re good”. The alarm goes off, and Jules says to Greg “Time and a place”. They arrive at Zoe’s apartment building, and catch up on the situation from the officers on site. Ed and Greg begin organizing the team. Ed moves into the building with Wordy and Spike, Jules tries to dig up some info on the people involved, and Leah works with Sam. Ed knocks down the door, makes his way to the washroom and pulls away the shower curtain, only to realize that they are gone. ROLL OPENING!

Jules starts to type out the log, but Greg switches things around and puts Spike in the truck, and sends Jules and Leah to go interview Zoe’s neighbor. They have a hard time as they have to talk over a barking dog. The neighbour can’t quite identify the car, so Jules and Leah take her back to the truck, but leave the dog in the apartment. Jules puts out her palm to shush the dog, and he whines (excellent acting by the dog). Ed, Wordy, and Sam search Zoe’s apartment for clues, and Sam finds a bullet casing that matches a box of bullets in her room. The gun was hers?! In the truck, Spike is dealing with a neighbour who is absolutely clueless about cars. As Jules and Leah also help look in her apartment, Leah is a little confused with no photos of her family to go on. Jules tells her that maybe she is isolated or estranged, and Leah responds saying this explains why she is with a badass boyfriend. Jules says she is perceptive, and Leah says she has been there. This is intriguing. I hope we get to hear more of Leah’s interesting past. Leah finds a pay stub, and Jules starts to warm to her. Ed thinks that the handgun was kept by her in self-defense. Spike has determined the car, and Greg gives an order to put out an APB. Jules calls the donut shop to find out some more information about Jeff. Zoe always went back to him because of his loving words. But he would always hurt her. The SRU tracks down Jeff’s address and heads to his place. They break in, pin him down, but they don’t find Zoe. Jeff really doesn’t know, and he suggests they go after Dale. He hangs out at the donut shop 24/7 and Jeff remembers being confronted by Dale, who told him not to lay a finger on her and that she deserved better. Jules calls the donut shop again, but the other waitress doesn’t suspect anything. Spike works his magic and finds Dale’s address in a database. The SRU heads there, only to find that his ex-wife, Judith, is the only person there. Wordy and Ed look around the house, and find a little girl’s room, and Jules and Leah find a picture of her. Jules thinks Zoe bears a resemblance to the little girl, and Greg asks Judith about their daughter. She says she thinks they are here because they think he murdered her. And we are taken to a commercial break!

Somewhere in the woods, Dale parks his car, and takes Zoe out of his trunk. He pulls her towards a trailer. Greg asks Judith if she recognizes a picture of Zoe, and she says no. She tells them that Dale is living as a recluse in a trailer just west of the city, and that Zoe looks just like their daughter. In the trailer, Dale has a red dress with butterflies waiting for Zoe to wear. The dress, Dale’s shirt, and the car, are all eerily very close shades of red. As Dale describes to Zoe how he was watching her, she gets freaked out, especially because he is calling her his daughter’s name, Wendy. While chopping onions, he tears up and Zoe uses this opportunity to escape. He runs after her. The SRU heads towards the woods, and Dale chases her in his car. We are now where the episode began, he has caught up with her and is chasing her on foot. Commercials!

The SRU arrives at the trailer and searches inside. Sam finds a lot of pictures of Zoe in his closet, and Ed puts together the team’s search strategy in the woods. Greg is still with Judith and tries to put some more pieces of Wendy’s disappearance together. She told him that Dale was so mentally disturbed that she put him in rehab, but it didn’t help. Dale has managed to get Zoe back in his car, and he has become delusional thinking that Zoe really is Wendy, and that they are meant to be together.

Spike has some sort of locator device with a mini-satellite dish to listen for the car. He hears a car approaching, and though he cannot tell the make or color of it, he can definitely hear that it is an old car! Wordy thinks that they are heading back to the trailer, and they run to it. They spot the car, only for Dale to reverse and change his route, and the chase continues! Greg gets more details about Dale’s rehab stay from Judith. She thinks Dale killed Wendy. Greg makes a phone call. Ed is in an SUV with Leah, and they approach Dale’s car at the same time as Spike and Wordy, but they have taken off on foot, again. They start to search, ten feet apart. Greg talks to a detective about Wendy’s disappearance, and that Judith thinks Dale is responsible. However, the detective doesn’t agree. Spike hears Zoe’s screaming on his device, and guides the SRU towards them. Dale and Zoe are backed up right against the edge of a cliff. Commercials!

The SRU confront Dale and Zoe and they are now just millimeters away from the cliff’s edge! Greg talks to Judith and says that the only reason she is blaming Dale is because it is an answer (and it isn’t the right one). He counsels her about how she can help him when they return. The team updates Greg with the status of Dale and Zoe. Greg assigns Jules the role of negotiator, Ed as the sniper, and Sam and Leah start getting set up so they can be tethered to the cliff. Jules tries to get them away from the edge, but Dale won’t listen, and he is holding Zoe back. Zoe manages to break away and moves forward away from the cliff, but Dale pins her on the ground and refuses to let go. Dale steps backwards off the cliff, and Leah and Sam grab him. But he is holding onto Zoe’s leg, and she is barely hanging on the edge of the cliff. Jules is grabbing her as best that she can, and delivers a very moving speech to him. I can’t do this any justice, so I’m just going to type this out:

“Is this what you call keeping someone safe, Dale? Listen to me. I am sorry that Wendy has disappeared from your life. I cannot even imagine what you have been through. But I do know what it is like to lose somebody who had absolutely no business dying…and to have not had a chance to say goodbye; and be disgusted with people for just walking down the street like the world’s the same place. That if you had just done something different… they still might be here. So you can keep on struggling and get both of yourselves killed, and that will be your fault. Or you can let go and let yourselves live. What would Wendy want you to do?”

Jules remains strong behind her tears, but Dale breaks down completely and lets go. Both are pulled to safety. “Now the Struggle Has a Name” by the Tragically Hip, starts to play as the SRU look and check in with each other. Judith sits next to Dale, and the two of them are just sad.

Back at SRU HQ, Leah hands the SRU bracelets to help them carry the memory of Lewis with them. They are black, with a gold plate that reads “L. YOUNG BADGE 1902”. The camera zooms onto Lewis’s plaque, which reads “Constable Lewis Young” “Who gave his life to keep the peace” along with his picture and the SRU logo.

Next week’s episode: the SRU is dealing with a massive hostage situation at a prison, which requires them to give up one of their own. And it looks like it might be Ed?! This doesn’t look like it is Coming to You Live, which was the next episode slated to air. EDIT: The next episode is called Just a Man


At this time, you’re probably wondering who the new member of the SRU is? Her name is Leah Kearns, and she is played by the Canadian actress, Olunike Adeliyi! She has not only had roles on the small screen, but has appeared on the silver screen, and on stage as not only an actress, but also a dancer! Visit her IMDB page for more information. For those of you wondering about our logo, we will keep Mark Taylor in it, but once an image of Olunike Adeliyi is released (in uniform), we’ll see if there is some way to add her in!

Flashpoint Brings Back Memories of Toronto for Italian Viewer

A few days ago, we came across this article in Italian. It was written by a blogger who used to live in Toronto, and is now living in Italy. Simona Giaccobi provided some neat insights on the show and Toronto! We have translate the entire post in English! I had some difficulty with a few things and those are enclosed in **.

You must know that I am a couch potato. At one stage I would say I was a fairly serious one. I didn't miss a television series in the winter. Thankfully, there's the summer break...All I watch are my CSI, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer (be patient), Law and Order SVU (I only like this version), Medium (...) and i can't forget to mention the Simpsons, Family Guy and Ellen DeGeneres talk show which is different from Oprah. Virtually all American shows. Usually those left me a lot to be desired, I remember that in Italy I only watched District of Police...

But here's a TV series that has attracted my attention enough. It is made entirely in Toronto, and it is called Flashpoint and it has a certain effect on me since I have lived there, when they say "send an ambulance / bus to Queen Street" or "there's an explosion at Nathan Philip Square. But it turned out to be quite good. And I discovered that the series was launched with the September programs in Italy , **airing just before Survivor which has been getting bad ratings.**

** this part was a little hard to translate - if any of our readers have a better idea of what this sentence is trying to say, please let us know!**

I have seen the hero of the series, Sergeant Parker, who by the way is played by an actor whose name is a little Italian-Canadian, Enrico Colantoni (born in Toronto in 1963 by Gina and Quintino Colantoni) - in a local Italian restaurant on College Street (Little Italy) sitting at a table with a girl. And then one of the first things they told me when I arrived is that many films are shot here in Toronto because New York is too expensive. Moreover, the Financial District (only one there) of Toronto is very similar to the Big Apple. They also say that once you've seen Toronto, NY City no longer has the same effect (**or New York no longer feels any different**). I take exception because I think there is a chasm (**difference**) between Toronto and NY . Throughout. I love New York.

I searched around a few websites and saw that the first episode of Flashpoint that was broadcast on RAI was a flop in Italy. The first set was sent here last summer from CTV and the United States by CBS and recounts the work of the SRU - Strategic Response Unit, a special body headed by Sergeant Parker. Note that Flashpoint is about a team ready to dismantle terrorist cells or to negotiate with kidnappers to identify their point of collapse.

The show is based on the real work of the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force and has the same style of uniforms, same use of technology, and even the same style of how to resolve more complex cases. Tonight, CTV begins the second seasons. (Editors Note: She wrote second, but it was in fact the 3rd season premiere). You too are couch potatoes like me??

There you have it, Flashpoint impressions from an Italian self-confessed couch potato!

Flashpoint in a Flash: Season 3 Episode 1: One Wrong Move

Episode ? because we don't know what episode number this is, but CTV is airing them out of order (but not entirely, next week's episode follows this one). This episode is a lot sadder than our random non-spoiler tweets make it seem. As always, it is up to our readers to decide if they want to read this before the episode airs in their countries. Season 3 is currently airing only in Canada as of this Fall season (but anything could happen with CBS). Today's episode will repeat tomorrow night - check your local CTV listings in Canada! Click below when you're ready to read!



Okay. So this episode starts off a little different than the others we are used to. Normally we begin very close to the climax of the incident, but this episode follows the entire story from start to finish.

We begin at SRU headquarters. Spike has returned from a vacation in Jamaica with Lewis, and the gang jokes around about Spike's new love interest and Lewis's dancing talents. The camera then takes us to a construction site, where in the midst of some piles of lumber, there appears to be something suspicious about this spot - there's a box wrapped in brown paper. Back to SRU, Ed comments that it's pretty quiet, and asks Greg if he wants to go shoot some rounds at the range. Greg says he has to finish this report first. Winnie gets a call about a bomb going off in ten minutes at the construction site, and as Greg tries to get more information, the message repeats. It's pre-recorded! The alarm is sounded and Team One gets into gear and out the door. As the team rushes over to the site, Greg himself calls the site foreman and initially has a hard time telling them there is a bomb at their site, but then he yells at everyone to evacuate. As the SRU pulls up to the site, the bomb goes off, and the foreman is blasted into the air. But, everyone is okay, so far.

Greg at the site starts to give out his orders for how they are going to tackle this problem, and the team breaks up into pairs. Sam mentions to Greg that he has seen a lot of I.E.D's in Afghanistan, and it is noted. Spike visits the the bomb crater and figures out how bad the bomb was. Jules determines that these are coming from Eco-terrorists and Greg asks her to research CSIS for anyone on their watchlist. Meanwhile at the site, the foreman tells Wordy about the constant protests they have had at their site and even though it's not necessarily their matters to deal with since all they are responsible for is making the building, the protesters think otherwise and threaten to take things to the next level. The team figures out that the Olive Branch Collective is probably a part of this , and also finds other potential targets in fictional energy corporations which are currently fighting charges from the EPA. These companies include Keffler Corp, Duchamp Energy, and Morgan-Ellis (FIND THE PUN!). Ed takes a few members to go talk to the corporate heads of securities of those companies, and Jules and Ed head to the Olive Branch Collective HQ. Turns out they are only running an internet petition.

Ed, Wordy, and Sam begin evacuating one of the corporate HQs while Spike determines the bomb's "signature" and traces it to an older environmental activist group which has since moved on. The leaders of the group were once arrested, and are now Professors Emeriti in Political Science. Greg and Jules track down the parents, and ask them some questions, and they get the name of their lone bomb technician and learn that they have a daughter now. Roll the opening!

Spike sends Babycakes lurking through the building basement, and Lewis wants to go help him defuse but Spike says no. Wordy and Sam have to deal with a frantic woman who left her laptop in her office. Spike figures out what makes the bomb tick, and Greg hesitates at first, but lets Spike go in and diffuse the bomb himself. Winnie gets another call about a third bomb going off at a college (which is really being played by York University). Lewis and Greg head over there, and Spike opens the package the bomb is in and only has 15 minutes to defuse the bomb. Ed, Wordy, and Sam head to the bomb technician's house, however he appears to be a little woozy on the drugs and answers simply and vaguely to their questions about the bombs, saying it's the corportations' fault. He injects himself and falls into a chair. Ed tells him to talk fast before he passes out. In the basement, Sam and Wordy discover some of the bomb plans, and the man barely gives any details to Ed before he passes out. Ed pushes magazines off the table in frustration. Commercials!

Ed learns that he injected himself with air and gave himself a heart attack, and tells Greg that he had an accomplice. Greg tells Winnie to start investigating this as they get on campus and begin evacuating. Spike has figured out the bomb but has a 1 in 3 chance of stopping it. Winnie tracks down the batteries to the first bomb to a wholesale club in Mississauga , but no buyer. Sam finds some of the bomb schematics and sends an image to Spike. Lewis says he can start working on another bomb since he has cutters, so he moves in towards the third one on the campus. He steps onto a loose gravel Feng Shui display and surveys the area with his metal detector and finds nothing and Spike guides him on the phone. As he finishes unraveling the detonator from the garbage bags, he steps on a landmine. If he moves, it blows. The team is confused and doesn't know what to do and Spike is worried. Commercials!

Lewis repeats he stepped on a landmine and says he knows that is what it is because he heard the click and he feels the trigger. Greg tells him to relax and Spike tells him not to shift his weight, and that he will get him out. Greg calls Ed and tells him what happened, and Sam tries to figure out what he is standing on. The SRU switches to a different channel to keep Lewis calm. Jules figures out that Sara , the Professors' daughter, is the accomplice! She sends the photo to the team and Greg puts out a search for the professors and the daughter. Spike manages to defuse the bomb with 18 seconds left, and rushes to campus. Spike jokes with Lewis to keep him calm, and the campus is continued to be evacuated. Greg spots Sara in the crowd and the SRU run after her. Lewis very carefully defuses the detonator, and Spike arrives on campus. Ed and Sam capture and handcuff Sara. The professors arrive at the campus and are in disbelief that their daughter is involved, and they recall a time from 2 years ago when the bomb technician came and visited them in their office and talked to their daughter. He has a lot of animosity towards them for having an "ivory tower tenure" rather than continuing to fight for "what is right". With Spike's guidance, Lewis manages to defuse the bomb and breathes a sigh of relief. Sara admits to her parents that it was her, and that she isn't afraid of jail. Sara is horrified seeing the situation, but lies to the SRU about laying them. The SRU jostles and fights over options about how to defuse this landmine, and Spike goes in and looks around with a radar device. Commercials!

Spike very carefully finds the landmines and marks them. He digs around Lewis to see what kind of a landmine it is, and sees it is a CR-38. It's very difficult to defuse, and Sam says the prospects are grim. Spike looks for a safety to re-pin it and save Lewis, and starts talking in baby speak until he finds it... only to learn that it is glued. Spike tries to calm himself and reassures Lewis that there's got to be another way as the SRU tries to determine a strategy, even though it is just not looking good. Lewis talks about special memories in Jamaica and this triggers Spike to do a weight transfer with water, though Lewis tries to tell him to ask out his new love interest and that they have to play it safe. Spike goes off to make his contraption, and Lewis looks at the team, and pulls out his cell phone. The SRU argues about whether they can do anything to save Lewis, but they don't want to risk losing two members of their team either.

Lewis calls his parents, but can only get a hold of his dad. He calls to say that he loves them, and to tell his mom that he called and that he was thinking about her. Lewis is in tears, and shaking, and as Spike heads back to the SRU who is standing their blankly, and Lewis tells him "it's gonna be okay". He steps off of the landmine and he is blown away. You hear none of the SRU's cries from here on in, only sad violin music (so no song at the end this week either). Just images of the SRU in stunned and sombre grief as the episode goes to black with a piano riff of the theme song. Oh Lewis, we barely knew ye! Mark Taylor, we will miss you, but we hope we will see a few more episodes with you in it before the season is over (since the episodes are out of order). Congratulations again to the cast and crew on a great start to the third season and we all wish you the best of luck for many more despite this shaky programming start!

Which brings us up to next week's episode Never Let You Down, which brings the SRU a new member - another woman! Leah Kearns joins the team, and she tries to comfort them, but the team isn't ready to really talk about it yet. The crisis involves an armed abduction in the woods leaving the crew wondering about how to deal with a 50-foot-drop.

More September 2009 Flashbits!

This Week’s Upcoming Episode Will Be A Shocker!

Flashpoint has undergone some episode scheduling changes once again. It's likely that the episodes being aired in Canada are going to be aired out of order (but the reason will be made clear to us soon, we read). Back in July, the episode Coming To You Live was supposed to air. And this one was about the SRU trying to prevent a Radio DJ from killing a politician on the air. To our surprise, some days ago, another episode was announced for this Friday - One Wrong Move. And this one is probably going to keep everyone in Canada on the edge of their seats. One of our readers posted this same video on Facebook (linking to YouTube so everyone can watch) of the current commercial being aired on CTV as we speak for the new episode. CTV has also posted one online here. In a press release, CTV posted this about the episode:

FLASHPOINT returns with its most emotional and unforgettable episode ever as the SRU is pushed to the breaking point and desperately work to save the life of one of their own. After answering a bomb call in the downtown core the team soon discovers it’s just the first in a wave of bombings by a mysterious eco-terrorist organization. Ed (Hugh Dillon), Sam (David Paetkau) and Wordy (Michael Cram) must hunt down the terrorists, while bomb defusing experts Spike (Sergio Di Zio) and Lou (Mark Taylor) must defuse two bombs simultaneously.

The only cast members we can confirm at this time are Richard Willis, who plays the character Sheldon Kominski, and Toronto actor Drew Finnie makes another of a few appearances on the show. CTV's Forums are all abuzz with who the unfortunate member of the team might be, and if it is who we think it is, we'll be left wondering where the series is going to go.

On a side note, I am definitely going to change the format of the episode summaries (yes, I will attempt to use paragraphs). If I have a laptop (which I am hoping one of my broken ones will return to me from the shop soon), then it will be up hours after the episode airs. If not, then I'm stuck doing it on this PC, and that won't happen until CTV puts the episode up online. We will hide the full summaries after the post jumps, so those of you who don't want to be spoiled, won't be :). We're excited and only 5 days away from a premiere! Keep an eye out on our ratings table too - this will be updated as soon as we have the figures in!


Simon Vaughan Starts New Company!

Well, it seems one person that left the fledgling Alchemy TV has started their own venture. Simon Vaughn, co-founder and partner at Alchemy, left the company last year, and just recently announced that he is starting his own company, Lookout Point. The company will producers secure funding for their projects via pre-sales, co-production and bank and equity financing. Since this is a solo project, Simon will serve as an Executive Producer on future productions, but will not serve as a distributor. He spoke of his philosophy, "I want to sit on the same side of the desk as the producer and have the flexibility to get involved with the best projects and help make them happen. It is important to have maximum mobility, so I can work with networks, studios or production companies without treading on the toes of their own in-house distribution entities. Being less of a competitor and more of a partner is very liberating and gives me access to a wider range of the best projects." Vaughn plans to focus on series and movies. Simon isn't quite done with Alchemy just yet, as he is nominated this month for an Emmy for his work on their production, Coco Chanel (Outstanding Made for Television Movie). Alchemy continues to be a key production partner of Flashpoint.

Flashpoint’s Second Season Premieres in Italy!

We wonder if Spike cozied up to Babycakes and watched! Flashpoint continues its conquest of the world, and the second season of the show began in Italy on September 8th on AXN. The first season of the show reruns in syndication on RaiTre (Rai3) and so far the ratings have been good on both channels. On September 10th, approximately 1,224,00 people watched Scorpio and the show held a 5.23% share. Mark Ellis reports that 1.3 million people caught the premiere on AXN! Fans can catch watch Flashpoint in this Autumn 2009 promo video from AXN! Viva la Flashpoint!

And Now, a Short Word From Moon Chase:

The fans are really putting up a fight to bring back Sailor Moon, and we want to thank the readers of this blog who weren't afraid to check out a little more about Flashpoint's very big connection to an iconic cartoon, and in turn participated in our surveys. We have received over 1000 surveys from fans over Phase 1 and 3 of Operation Moonrise - which is a really big number none of us ever expected to reach! We'll be finishing up the release survey a week from today, so if you want to get involved this is your very last chance!

Flashbits September 2009!

With the third season premiere of Flashpoint starting next week, we’re going to catch you all up on recent happenings with the show!

☄Catch Hugh Dillon on Ion Television in the U.S! Dark drama Durham County premiered on the network, and despite the cuts made to the show by the network, there is at least one thing for the U.S. to look forward to. Canada had a 2-year gap between each 6 episode season, where the U.S. is getting both seasons as one! We recommend checking out this series (it's even a top pick for one website), but for those of you wanting to watch the series in its unaltered form, the first season is available on DVD. However, you will have to poke around the internet to find it, as Amazon.ca lists a shipping time of 1-2 months. But take a good look at the cover they have posted (we've posted it here too), so you know what to look for. There are some fakes going around (and please, don’t buy those)! The premiere also made the New York Times! Check out reviews here, here, and here! We also found this marketing stunt kind of cool - Ion Television filled a big cardboard box with packing peanuts, and let 20 contestants have at it to find treasure! The point being, that Durham County is a small town with a lot of buried secrets, and this was a small box that also had... buried secrets. Neat!

☄Worldscreen reports yet another country that Flashpoint is conquering - the Netherlands! The country's 13th Street channel (part of NBC Universal) is making their programming available On Demand through Ziggo, and Flashpoint is one of those shows along with Dexter, The Wire, and British series Vincent. We are assuming that this broadcast is in Dutch!

☄This is a good sign - the upcoming release of Flashpoint: Season 1 on DVD this October 13th is starting to get a lot of buzz in the US! Cinemaspy highlights the show's recent Gemini Nomimations and special features, and The Star Tribune makes a brief mention of it. The Windsor Star also named Flashpoint one of Jay Leno's competitors starting next week! Closer to the release, we'll see if we can come up with something creative for fans to do to celebrate the release and encourage others to go get the show on DVD!

☄The Hollywood Reporter posted a great article on Liam Neeson's new film, Chloe, however, it was interesting to note their comment about Toronto - how Flashpoint has gained credibility south of the border for letting Toronto be Toronto!

Shows I’m Looking Forward to Watch on Canadian TV This Fall

It’s hard to choose just one Canadian show to look forward to this Fall for the essay contest, so for me it’s a tie between two shows. CTV’s Flashpoint, and CBC’s Little Mosque on the Prairie. Warning our readers now this is a bit of a long entry...

I’ll start with Little Mosque, first. When the show first began, I was a little biased and couldn’t watch it - I was raised of a culture similar to Islam portrayed in the show, but to this day I still cannot stand to watch any aspects of it that are popular today in the western world. Especially Bollywood films. Family and friends love them to death and I don’t understand the appeal. To me, 99% of them are all the same. Boy falls in love with girl, they can’t be together due to family conflict, and either they both find new lovers or they end up being together, somehow. Of course, there is always song and dance in between. I didn’t want to watch Little Mosque because I was afraid that this would just be another cheezy take on culture like so many other productions of the day which exaggerated aspects of those productions that were already cheezy to my eyes (and many other members of the western audience, I might add). Though, I did catch some of the later episodes towards the end of the first season, and watched it off and on in the second season. There were a few episodes which I caught only because former Sailor Moon actors had made appearances as well. I thought it did a pretty good job of writing a lot of the conflicts of trying to stay true to Islam in the modern world - and it definitely incorporated some hometown “Saskatchewanisms” that I at least have come to know... so slowly, I warmed to the show.

But then last season had probably one of the most interesting plotlines - Rayyan’s wedding. The more I heard about it in various media and spoiler sites, the more I had to check it out. Marriage has always been a touchy issue in our cultures - especially over the tradition of arranged marriages. Being born in Canada and living my life here, I have always been against it but I was very curious about how this show was going to handle it, especially since the show was going to feature Rayyan and J.J. dating - which is still something many of this culture aren’t too happy with the idea of! The very last episode featured a wedding that didn’t go right at all, and though not unheard of, I think the show took a big risk in writing this ending and despite many criticisms on the internet, I didn’t think it "sucked". It was very intriguing to see the clashes between the culture and values that Rayyan herself followed versus those of J.J. and no matter how hard they tried to make it work, in the end, they just couldn’t do it. I really look forward to next season - how Rayyan heals from this, and how she moves on, especially. These ideas are relatively new territory for cultures who aren’t sure how to keep old tradition in tune with modern times, and I look forward to seeing this show’s take on them. And hey, it’s a homegrown production that’s close to me so that’s the other reason I look forward to it!

And now, Flashpoint. The show which this blog is devoted to, and which our sister blog Moon Chase spent a significant time covering from August of 2007. When I first learned of this show, it was through not a news search, but random web searches I conduct in my efforts to keep Sailor Moon fans updated on what the voices are up to. Which in itself, was inspired by series co-creator, Stephanie Morgenstern.

In 2004, I got the opportunity to attend my first anime convention in Toronto (CNanime as it was called back then). I had been living there that summer taking a review course, but I remember being just as enthralled as everyone else who was living there watching the TV coverage over the hostage situation that happened near Union Station that July. I was shocked in horror over how something like this could happen and I did keep up with further developments as they came in the paper. A little over a month later, was the anime convention. I knew that the director of my favorite episodes of Sailor Moon, Roland Parliament, was going to be there, but I had no idea who else from the show was going to speak alongside him on the Sailor Moon panel. To my surprise, a blonde woman walked into the room behind him and he introduced her: Stephanie Morgenstern. I was lucky enough to be sitting in the front row and thought to myself... really? When I was much younger, her character Sailor Venus, was my favorite and I was thinking to myself, how totally cool is this to meet one of my favorite characters in the flesh? It was during this panel that Stephanie spoke very passionately about how the show really put Canada on the map for cartoon dubbing and also how much they had invested into not only their characters in the show. I also remember her saying something about how much of a struggle it was for Canadian actors to get recognition outside of Canada. I was very surprised to hear how much they had known about some of the promotional events in Japan , most notably the "big headed" costumes (kirigumi). For them the show had gone beyond just another role that they had played. At the time I was writing for another site, Save Our Sailors, and one of my biggest roles on the site was keeping tabs on the actors and after hearing her speak, she gave me a lot to think about. She signed my empty can of Heinz Sailor Moon pasta (which still sits atop my desk today), recognized the site that I had written for, and I was on cloud nine for the next few days. While the show met an unfortunate end in North America just weeks later, the fandom didn’t die. Over the next 3 years I would infrequently keep fans up to date on the actors, of course keeping Stephanie’s comments in my head, but not really knowing how to act with them.

Fast forward to late 2006, when I decide it’s about time I started my own site, with the help of my friends who have served as very diligent staffers since! March 8th, 2007 was the day Moon Chase went live to a much warmer reception than I had expected. I was fully prepared to shut down the site after 6 months if it just wasn’t popular. Fans enjoyed to read the actor updates as they came, but the vast majority of their appearances were in Canadian productions, which readers in the U.S, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK couldn’t really see, leaving many wondering what the faces behind the voices were. That August was when I came across a WDIC newsletter, where at first I didn’t actually believe it was the same Stephanie Morgenstern that we had all known of, but then when I learned it was actually the same person, I knew this could be a production that might be a little bigger than the others we had covered, so that’s when I refined my newshounding skills and decided to keep tabs on the show’s development. And though the stories that I had posted didn’t receive many comments from the fans, as I posted more about what I was learning about the show, they soon became the most popular posts on the site. The fans were very interested to see how one of the most beloved voices on the show was making her way onto bigger and better things. Flashpoint began in the Summer of 2008, on both Canadian and American TV screens, and was a much bigger success than any of us on staff had expected. And then when it started to pop up on more international markets, we would get a lot of emails from places like Poland, Australia, Czechoslovakia, and the UK from fans who loved the show and thanked us for covering it so well (and asked for more!). The stats had grown to the point where 40% of all hits to Moon Chase were coming just to learn more about Flashpoint. And like Sailor Moon, this show had really made it on an international market and opened the door for Canadian talent. It was through the success of Flashpoint that I finally came to understand just what Stephanie was talking about, many years ago. Actors were finally sailing from the Canadian shores and really becoming known around the world! It was just amazing to see the show’s amazing international appeal. Moreover, the show has done a lot for many Canadian actors in their own country where many aren’t even aware of them! When you read the interviews that the stars and crew have given since the show has begun, you also get a feel that this is just not another show that they work on. They know just what it means to Canada and despite editorial requirements, they still manage to sneak in elements to keep the show true to its Canadian identity.

The actors on the show also make Flashpoint really unique. A lot of the same kinds of shows when they do feature ethnic actors , most times make them seem to be like "big monsters" without really featuring in depth, why. One thing the show does really well is it gives these characters soul - even though they may only be on for one episode, you see more than just one facet of their characters and it gives the show a certain depth over others. Three episodes really come to mind especially with this - "Between Heartbeats", "Eagle Two" and "The Fortress". Both carrying villains that were the "bad guys" in their own right, but their backstories did pose some ethical dilemmas. In "Between Heartbeats" you have a son who wants to avenge his father because he feels he shouldn’t have been murdered , but also has some fight in him from serving in his former country’s army. In "Eagle Two", there’s a Latin American teenager fighting between old country values to fight for her father, yet unsure if she should, given the freedom she has in Canada. "The Fortress" also featured a Russian nanny in conflict.

So, aside from obvious SRU plotline cliffhangers (Are Jules and Sam ever going to get back together? Will Greg finally get the courage to see his son? Will we get to meet any of Spike's large family?) I look forward to Flashpoint’s 3rd season’s deep plots and the diverse Canadian talent that will be featured. I also hope the show will rise again from certain strange scheduling south of the border, and will continue to open doors for Canadian productions all around the world.

USA Badgers and Doves Looking For Flashpoint?

We’ve had a couple requests via Twitter from fans of Flashpoint in the United States looking for some way to take action to bring the show back on the air. But before we bring you a few helpful hints, guidelines, and people to contact, we need to remind you all of a few things.

The show is coming back to CBS. Likely no earlier than January 2010, unless a show on CBS’s upcoming Fall lineup gets the axe, fast. Some critics are calling the network’s very morbid sounding Three Rivers as the first one. This is a medical drama about the relationship between organ donors, organ receivers, their families, and their doctors/transplant team. I’m sure most of us readers have experienced some of this in our lives and it’s not an easy thing to have to watch something like this on a TV show. Some critics are also wincing at Accidentally on Purpose. So ideally, it might be better to just wait and see… but, there’s the other issue of episodes. CBS has committed to 9 episodes of Season 3, whereas CTV in Canada has committed to 13. CBS only has until October 1st to decide if they want the next 4 (or any more after that). It’s here that you Badgers and Doves might be able to make an impact. So this letter writing campaign has two objectives for you guys. The first is to try to bring the show back earlier than January 2010, and the second is to get these four episodes to the USA!

When you write to CBS, don’t flame or be mean (or send spam)! Begin with who you are, where you are from, and that you have been a fan of Flashpoint since _______ (fill in the blank). After this statement, write words that read something to the effect of: If this isn’t meant for the person I am addressing this to, please forward it to the right person and apologize for the inconvenience. Then, share a story about your experience with Flashpoint. For example, are you a member of the Armed Forces, Police, or other Government service? How did the portrayal of the SRU hit home with you? Or was there a particular episode that really hit you? Are the issues realistic to ones you might have heard about in your community? These are but a few ideas to jumpstart your minds about what kind of a story to share. Something like this is likely to keep the reader interested!

Then, detail briefly, why you want to see the show return to the airwaves sooner than later. Maybe you could make a few comments how you’re a little jealous your neighbors to the North in Canada are getting it in the Fall on CTV? We’ll leave it up to you to come up with the words for this. Some articles suggested fans might forget about the show since it isn’t going to return for a long time – is this how you feel too? Do you plan to not watch CBS on Friday nights in protest? Are you unimpressed by CBS’ Friday lineup? Have you had too much of The Ghost Whisperer? Are you not a fan of Medium or Numb3rs? Are you also tired of having Flashpoint air on Fridays instead of another day? Also, maybe a few words about how you don’t mind that the show is Canadian and not American might help to warm the reader to the idea. These are only a few suggestions to get you started. Talk about why you think it would be a bigger success if it came back in the Fall! End the letter nicely, and send it off!

Some other things you might want to include in your letter might include an opinion on the episodes being split apart and not aired together (such as how the last four episodes of Season 1 became the first four of Season 2, but this was not the case with international broadcasts of the show), and also how Canada is getting a Blu-Ray release, and the US isn’t. You may also want to send a copy of this letter to CBS Consumer Products. For those of you in the US who are planning to order a copy of the Blu-Ray release from Canada, don’t be afraid to let CBS know that, and if you really want to be strong with your argument, submit a pre-order receipt or a copy of your receipt once it arrives (with personal information etc. deleted or blacked out). A picture of you holding the boxset works too! For those of you still a little unsure over if what you will order will play in your DVD player, Canadian DVDs are all Region 1, and Canadian Blu-Ray discs are all Region A – and these are the same region codes for North America, so yes, they will play in your U.S. purchased player!

And if you want an even MORE creative idea, when you snail-mail your package, send something “uniquely” Canadian that you can find. Maybe some maple-syrup candy? A cheap toy that looks like an RCMP Mountie? A Canadian flag? Or above all else, a cheap toy car that looks like the Black SUVs they drive in the show.

Ready for your contacts? Here they come! We’ll warn you, CBS’s website didn’t specifically list where people’s offices are. If there is a star next to their name, it’s highly likely you have a better chance of letters getting to them if you send it to New York.


People to address your letters to:
President, CBS Entertainment: Nina Tassler
President, CBS Television Studios Entertainment Group: Nancy Tellem
Senior Executive Vice President, CBS Primetime: Kelly Kahl
Senior Vice President, Current Programs, CBS Entertainment: David Brownfield
President, Network Sales, CBS Television: Jo Ann Ross
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation: Leslie Moonves *
And a special note about Mr. Moonves. Be careful if you choose to write to him! He has a Twitter account, but we won’t post the address here.
Executive Vice President and General Manager, CBS Consumer Products: Liz Kalodner
(CBS Consumer Products has a specific address)



Snail Mail (probably more effective than E-mail):

CBS Paramount Television/CBS Television Studios Entertainment Group (new name for Fall 2009, same company):
5555 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
90038
U.S.A.

CBS Television
51 West 52nd Street
New York, NY
10019
U.S.A.

CBS Consumer Products
1700 Broadway
New York, NY
10019
U.S.A.
**Write here to inquire about Blu-Ray**


E-mail:
Go here and select Flashpoint.

If any of you do hear back from CBS, we'd love to hear about it - send us an email (moonchasers@NOSPAMPLZKTHXWITHSPRINKLESANDACHERRYONTOPgmail.comREMOVEALLCAPSPLZ) or DM us on Twitter.

Alchemy TV Woes, Dose.ca Fixes A Howling Error, and Flashpoint Guest Stars Appear in New Productions!

Alchemy TV Loses 3 Key Staff Members

It's been a rough year for one of Flashpoint's key production partners. Alchemy TV is based in Los Angeles, and distributes Flashpoint internationally. Recently, the London office of the company (specifically for Reality TV) was wound down, and its managing director Mike Beale, stepped down from the company due to an internal dispute. Michael Oesterlin, who served as the President of Worldwide Distribution, also left. And just a few days ago, Alchemy CEO Carrie Stein left her post and the company. She commented that this was because "Alchemy's brass weren't ready to grow the company as quickly as she wanted". Like many companies in this time, it was not a financially great year for the company either. Simon Vaughn, a co-founder and partner at Alchemy, is now left to take the company into the future. We really hope that Alchemy doesn't drop Flashpoint - the show is a success in many countries around the world and it would be a terrible loss!

Once Again, the Media Gets it All Wrong...

In an article which signaled our Flashpoint radar yesterday, we spotted a potentially howling error. In an interview with actress Tonya Lee Williams about another Canadian show The Border, the interviewer told her that CBS had announced Flashpoint had been canceled. We didn't hear about this, and it was news to us (as it was to many of our followers on Twitter, and series Story Editor, Adam Barken). We contacted the editors of both the Vancouver Sun and Dose.ca asking them for their source of this "announcement". This morning we heard back from Jennifer McDonnell of Canwest Digital Media, and she thanked us for the note and said she'd look into it. This afternoon, we found that the article had changed from "Yes, but CBS just announced they'd be cancelling Flashpoint last week." to "Yes, but CBS just announced that Flashpoint isn't on their fall schedule." The interview just doesn't have the same flow with the change. Normally we'd expect to see an Editor's note or something either before or after the article admitting this error. Readers, you can all breathe because once again, people are reporting Flashpoint is canceled just because it isn't on CBS's Fall schedule. New episodes begin on CTV Tuesday, September 25th! Our pictures below are screens of the article.


Before:



After:



Two Guest Stars on Flashpoint in New Productions!

☄K.C. Collins, who played Derek Medeiros in the episode "Exit Wounds" has the leading role in the upcoming movie Sons 2 the Grave. The movie is the first cinematic effort from rap label Death Row Records, and K.C. plays a young basketball phenom who returns to an inner-city ghetto after two bullets stop his dream of a career in the NBA. Death Row CEO Lara Lavi had this to say about the movie: "This film embodies what we're trying to do with Death Row, to tell human stories that don't always have happy endings, and that allow us to learn from violence and disenfranchised lives, but not glorify it." Sounds like it's going to have a sad ending?! We might catch this one! Death Row also plans to use music to score the film from its extensive back catalog including unreleased tracks from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. The film begins production in Toronto this October and is slated to hit theaters in 2010.

☄ Dewshane Williams, who played Adam in the episode "Aisle 13", has a supporting role in the MTV/CTV co-production, Turn the Beat Around. This made for TV movie is a dance film that centers around a dancer who is determined to follow her dreams in Los Angeles, and continues to work hard for that one break! Production is now underway for this film in Toronto and Hamilton. The film has some other big names behind it, such as choreographer Tre Armstrong, who was also the choreographer for So You Think You Can Dance Canada, and music supervisor Evan Bogart, who is known for writing some of the radio's biggest hits, such as Sean Kingston's Take You There, Beyoncé Knowles' Halo, and Hilary Duff's Reach Out.

Congrats to these two and good luck on these productions!

BREAKING NEWS! Flashpoint Nominated for 19 Gemini Awards in Canada!

Nominations for the 24th Annual Gemini Awards in Canada (equivalent of the USA Emmy Awards) were announced this morning in Toronto. Flashpoint is nominated for a record 19 awards in 12 categories! Congratulations to Mark Ellis, Stephanie Morgenstern, and all of the writers, actors, and crew who were nominated. The list of awards is posted below by category, with Flashpoint nominees in bold. CTV also announced today that new episodes will begin to air in Canada on September 25th!

Best Dramatic Series:

Being Erica
p. David Fortier, Aaron Martin, Ivan Schneeberg, Jana Sinyor
(Temple Street Productions)

The Border
p. Peter Raymont, David Barlow, Brian Dennis, Janet MacLean
(White Pine Pictures)

Flashpoint
p. Anne Marie La Traverse, Bill Mustos
(Flashpoint Season 1 Inc., PINK SKY ENTERTAINMENT INC., AVAMAR ENTERTAINMENT INC.)

The Tudors
p. Sheila Hockin, Morgan O'Sullivan
(Peace Arch Television Ltd., PA Tudors II Inc., TM Productions)

ZOS: Zone of Separation
p. Paul Gross, Mario Azzopardi, Malcolm MacRury, Andrea Raffaghello, Frank Siracusa
(Whizbang Films, Sulari Productions Inc.)

Best Direction in a Dramatic Series:

Chris Grismer
Being Erica
Leo

John Fawcett
The Border
Going Dark

Kelly Makin
Flashpoint
Planets Aligned

Steven Adelson
Sanctuary
Instinct

Jeremy Podeswa
The Tudors
Episode 201

Best Writing in a Dramatic Series:


Mark Ellis, Stephanie Morgenstern
Flashpoint
Haunting the Barn

Lori Spring
Murdoch Mysteries
I, Murdoch

Floyd Kane
Soul
Fathers and Daughters

Brad Wright
Stargate Atlantis
The Shrine

Michael Hirst
The Tudors
Episode 205

Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series

Gareth C. Scales
Flashpoint
Element of Surprise

Teresa Hannigan, C.C.E.
Flashpoint
Scorpio

Jonathan Baltrusaitis
In a World Created By a Drunken God

Arthur Tarnowski
The Last Templar

Wendy Hallam Martin
The Tudors
Episode 207

Best Sound in a Dramatic Series:

Russell Walker, Eric Apps, Stefan Fraticelli, Herwig Gayer, Alastair Gray, Rich Harkness, Ian Rodness
The Border
Going Dark

David McCallum, Mike Baskerville, Sue Conley, Steve Hammond, Janice Ierulli, Mark Shnuriwsky, Paul Williamson
Flashpoint
Who's George?

Sid Lieberman, Richard Calistan, Steve Foster, Robert Hegedus, Kevin Howard, Ron Osiowy, Paul Shubat
Heartland
Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Jane Tattersall, Daniel Birch, Yuri Gorbachow, Martin Lee, Kirk Lynds, Andy Malcolm, David McCallum, Dale Sheldrake
The Tudors

Best Original Music Score for a Program or Series:

Jody Colero, Lily Frost, Trevor Yuile
Being Erica
Dr. Tom

Mark Korven
The Border
Floral Tribute

James Gelfand
Crusoe
The Return

Ari Posner, Amin Bhatia
Flashpoint
Planets Aligned

Robert Carli
Murdoch Mysteries
Werewolves

Best Achievement in Main Title Design:

Alain Provost, Aileen McBride, Michel Mercier, Theresa Warburton
2008 Beijing Olympics

Boyne Stergulc
2009 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards

Kim Jackson, Ron Gervais, Mike McDougall
Flashpoint
Flashpoint Main Title Sequence

Kevin Micallef, Brant Forrest, Don Gauthier, Glen Wyand
Grossology
Grossology Main Title Sequence

Shane Kinnear, Kevin Chandoo, Brent Whitmore
Murdoch Mysteries
Murdoch Mysteries Main Title Sequence

Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role

Enrico Colantoni
Flashpoint
Who's George?

Hugh Dillon
Flashpoint
Haunting the Barn

Daniel Kash
The Line
Episode 102

Ron White
The Line
Episode 102

Robin Dunne
Sanctuary
Requiem

Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role

Erin Karpluk
Being Erica
Dr. Tom

Amy Jo Johnson
Flashpoint
Planets Aligned

Andrea Menard
Rabbit Fall
Hit and Run

Amanda Tapping
Sanctuary
Requiem

Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series:

Damir Andrei
Being Erica
The Secret of Now

Ron Lea
Flashpoint
Haunting the Barn

Nicholas Campbell
Flashpoint
Who's George?

Mpho Koaho
Flashpoint
Never Kissed A Girl

Henry Czerny
Flashpoint
First In Line

Natalie Dormer
The Tudors
Episode 210

Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series:

Anna Silk
Being Erica
Everything She Wants

Daisy Beaumont
The Border
Floral Tribute

Kristin Booth
Flashpoint
Backwards Day

Tatiana Maslany
Flashpoint
Planets Aligned

Sarah Gadon
Flashpoint
Attention Shoppers

Best Achievement in Casting:

Stephanie Gorin
Being Erica
Dr. Tom

Stephanie Gorin
The Border
Going Dark

Marissa Richmond
Flashpoint
Scorpio

Susan Forrest, Sharon Forrest, Jim Heber
Less Than Kind
The Daters

Marsha Chesley
The Line
Episode 107


Congratulations to everyone on their nominations, and all of us on staff wish you the best of luck! We've been following this show since the pilot stages on Moon Chase and seeing how this show has grown to be a huge success here at home and around the world is truly inspiring! We'll be watching and we will announce the winners as soon as we find out!

Flashbits from August 2009!

Badgers and Doves, here come your Flashpoint tidbits for the month of August! P.S. Badgers and Doves is our new, Mark Ellis-approved, fan nickname. What do you all think?

Flashpoint Premieres in France and South Africa!

Flashpoint continues to conquer the world with two big premieres this month on two different continents. On August 6th, the show premiered in France on Canal+ and the first three episodes were shown that night in French! On August 20th, the show premiered for the first time in South Africa on Hallmark Channel(and was earlier named a pick of the week)! There are a couple interesting news articles coming out of France. One outlines reasons for the show's pickup, and remarks that while American dramas never cease to seduce both broadcasters and viewers, they are quite expensive for foreign countries to broadcast. Many similar kinds of shows have also either ended or been canceled. Many broadcasters choose to look to Canada for similar shows, because they are cheaper to produce. Since the Writer's Strike of 2007, ideas that were coming out of the US weren't as innovative as Flashpoint. The second reason the show was picked up was production quality. Even U.S. networks which were not warm to foreign imports, picked up Flashpoint because the Canadian standards were on par with Hollywood standards, and the format didn't stray too far away from similar US shows. The second article was just a short intro to the series and the first three episodes being broadcast on premiere night. 3 episodes back to back is overkill - two would have been just right! We're still waiting to hear on a premiere in an Asian country!

CBSC Deems Promo Not Violent

We're sure most Canadians have seen a Canadian Broadcast Standards Council commercial on TV at some point in their life. Usually when we see these commercials, it's because the watchdog NGO found something offensive on the network and the network needs to remind it's viewers that they strive to keep what they air within standards. A promotion for the episode Backwards Day disturbed the children of one very angry parent, and was aired during an NFL Football game, to the point where the commercial had to be censored by the parent. The CBSC recently announced its decision on how violent this promo was, and decided that it was not as violent as it seemed, and it was not in breach of broadcast standards. CTV just got a warning that promos for the show should air in a more appropriate timeslot. At least we don't have to see those CBSC spots during Flashpoint!

Flashpoint On Air in the Air?!

Mark Ellis informed his Twitter followers yesterday on the way to their much-needed family vacation in Florida that there are 5 episodes of Flashpoint available on Air Canada (writer Adam Barken later joked that he should watch it wearing full Flashpoint crew gear). Flashpoint Fan gcookie60 also shared that there were 6 episodes available on her flight! So for those of you who want something a little better to watch than their current movie selection, and you are flying on a longer Air Canada flight, why not make it a little more pleasant with the SRU?

Quickie Appearances in a Flash!

☄ Writer Tassie Cameron was listed by the Globe and Mail as one of Canada's Hottest Women Not On TV because she is "the girl who writes like a guy". Also featured are other writers on Flashpoint, Tracey Forbes (Planets Aligned, Attention Shoppers), and Esta Spalding who served as a consultant for the first season and wrote Backwards Day and Never Kissed a Girl. No mention of Stephanie Morgenstern?!

☄ Alchemy TV's co-founder and partner Simon Vaughan is set to be the keynote speaker at Strategic Partners, a very prestigious Canadian international co-production market in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This event will take place on September 19th. Alchemy TV is one of Flashpoint's key production partners, and is also the international distributor of the show.

☄ The_Nange pointed us to her pictures of a feature article with Enrico Colantoni (Page 1, Page 2)! He was interviewed in Autotrader's Newcar Magazine as part of their Stars in Cars section. He talks about his cars (past and current), how he drives, what his dream car is (you might be surprised!) , and who he'd like to have a car ride with. Thanks for sharing this with us, The_Nange!

☄ CBS just announced an official press release with the cover and details of the U.S. release of Season 1 (on standard DVD format), which was also posted on TVShowsonDVD. Confirmed extras include A commentary by director David Frazee on the first episode, Scorpio, and two featurettes: Flashpoint: Behind The Scenes - Season 1 and The Human Cost of Heroism.

Despite Flashpoint’s Success, Canadian Dramas Still Have Many Challenges

We noticed a new article today in the news, coming from Jason Anderson of the Canadian general interest magazine, The Walrus. Jason’s article features some insightful comments from Flashpoint co-creators Stephanie Morgenstern and Mark Ellis about the show’s identity and why it took the direction it did. We learned at least one new thing: we’ll have to change our familiar episode summary opener from "We begin in medias res" to "Today’s Cold Open…" The show has had huge international success which has opened the door for quite a few other Canuck dramas (with co-production agreements with the United States). However, Canada still faces challenges supporting home-grown drama in its own country , since we are exposed to media from all over, especially the US. Mary Jane Miller, a Professor Emeritus at Brock University suggests that the best ones didn’t try to “look American” but rather displayed moral tolerance, open-ended narrative structures, and experimented with the medium itself. At the same time, there is a lot of pressure for Canadian shows to be just like American ones since they are hugely popular in the Great White North. It has taken a while for Canadian shows to find the perfect balance between trying to have the same sorts of appeal that the American dramas have, while still staying true to a unique, Canadian, identity. The article also chronicles the plight of other Canadian TV series at home and abroad. It’s a bit of a long read and a few things were omitted, but it’s still nonetheless an interesting read.

Potential DVD Cover Art For Canada?

TVShowsonDVD has posted what may be the cover art for both the standard and Blu-Ray DVD boxsets being released in Canada. And, these covers are terrific! The vibrant blues look a lot better than the dreary grays on the US cover. And, there's a nice shot of the Toronto skyline too! The American one doesn't feature the CN Tower and makes it look just like any generic big city. What do you all think of these covers? And for those of you freaking out about the price, it's fully possible you could find it for less than the prices we listed yesterday! Amazon Canada is listing a pre-order price of $45.99 for standard, and $52.99 for Blu-Ray. We will keep an eye out at other retailers for their prices, once the release comes closer. Pictures are below!

Phase 4 Acquires DVD Rights to Flashpoint in Canada...

And, on Blu-Ray too!

Great news Canadians: you no longer have to pre-order your season one boxset from the US, or import one from the UK or Australia! Phase 4 Films (based out of Toronto) announced just about an hour ago that they have acquired the English Language DVD rights! What's even better? Canadians will not only be getting a Season 1 DVD Boxset the same day the US will (October 13) but they will be getting another awesome bonus: a Blu-Ray release the same day. This boxset will contain all 13 episodes too! The only unfortunate catch is that the series will cost significantly more than it will in the United States. While no price is listed yet on Amazon, it's a safe bet that the series would cost around $40 USD (what most CBS boxsets are going for these days). After the exchange using today's rates, this would cost approximately $43.63 CAD. Today's press release, suggests an MSRP of $64.99 for standard, and $74.99 for Blu-Ray. Which is... a little crazy. But it's worth it for our favorite series, right? Season 2 will be released sometime in 2010. The news has also made the pages of The Hollywood Reporter. As soon as we get our paws on it, we will definitely write a review for you all :).

Flashpoint Stars at CBS Press Tour Party

Bill Mustos, Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Dillon, Amy Jo Johnson, and David Paetkau all made an appearance earlier this week at CBS's Press Tour Summer 2009 in an effort to prove that the show still had value to the network. This might have been in response to CBS holding away 9 episodes of the show from the upcoming Fall season. The stars were also all interviewed for Entertainment Tonight - so keep your eyes peeled for them on upcoming episodes!

Flashpoint is in a bit of a bind - CTV has ordered 13 episodes, of which 9 have been funded for in part by CBS. CBS has until October 1st to decide if they want any more episodes past those 9 - now this could be extended past then. But as of this writing, no one knows what is going to happen. In any case, these 13 episodes will air on CTV in entirety. We're hoping to have an answer soon - we don't think it's fair that Flashpoint isn't getting an episode order as large as those of other series! For pictures of the event, check out CBS Press Express.

BREAKING NEWS: Flashpoint Nominated for Five DGC Awards!

The Directors Guild of Canada announced their nominations for their 2009 DGC awards, and Flashpoint is tied for the most amount of nominations for a TV show with CBC's The Summit. Flashpoint is nominated for:

TEAM TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

Flashpoint - Eps. 111 - "Haunting the Barn" - David Frazee (Director), Derek Rappaport (Production Manager), Ross Leslie (Assistant Production Manager), Felix Gray (1st Assistant Director), Karl Irvine (2nd Assistant Director), Raj Singh (3rd Assistant Director), Dominika Jurek (Trainee Assistant Director), Michael Burgess (Production Assistant), Raymond Duff (Production Assistant), Shelly Pearson (Production Accountant), Karen Sharp (1st Assistant Accountant), Alex Kontsalakis (1st Assistant Accountant), Andreas Hass (Trainee Assistant Accountant), John Dondertman (Production Designer), Rory Cheyne (Art Director), Jody Clement (1st Assistant Art Director), Jeff Smith (2nd Assistant Art Director), Randy Morgan (Location Manager), James Wilson (Assistant Location Manager), Sean Cengiz (Locations PA), Mike Lee (Picture Editor), Paul Whitehead (1st Assistant Picture Editor), David McCallum (Supervising Sound Editor), Janice Ierulli (Dialogue Editor), Mark Shnuriwsky (Sound Effects Editor), Sue Conley (ADR Editor), Gren-Erich Zwicker (1st Assistant Sound Editor), Matt Hussey (1st Assistant Sound Editor).

DIRECTION - TELEVISION SERIES

Holly Dale for Flashpoint - Eps. 106 - "Attention Shoppers"

PRODUCTION DESIGN - TELEVISION SERIES

John Dondertman for Flashpoint - Eps. 109 - "Planets Aligned"

PICTURE EDITING - TELEVISION SERIES

Mike Lee for Flashpoint - Eps. 111 - "Haunting the Barn"

SOUND EDITING - TELEVISION SERIES

Flashpoint - Eps. 201 - "Eagle Two" - Jane Tattersall (Supervising Sound Editor), Janice Ierulli (Dialogue Editor), Mark Shnuriwsky (Sound Effects Editor), Sue Conley (ADR Editor), Gren-Erich Zwicker (Assistant Sound Editor), Matt Hussey (Assistant Sound Editor).

Congratulations to everyone from the show who was nominated and we wish you all the best of luck! The awards will be held on October 24th, at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. The awards will be hosted by Canada's own Shaun Majumder.

BREAKING NEWS: CBS Confirms New Episodes of Flashpoint, But Still No Airdate

This is breaking news, Flashpoint fans! Hours ago, the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour began. CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler set off her segment with a bang, taking a jab at NBC. But that's a bunch of industry mumbo-jumbo that is all a reaction to the departure of Ben Silverman from NBC last week. Flashpoint fans got a bit of good news, but not everything that we were all hoping for. Nina confirmed that CBS has nine more original episodes, and that they will be aired later in the season. When that "later" is, remains to be known. As of this writing, she had this to say about producing more episodes: "There are no plans right now, but we certainly can if we want to." But for this upcoming season, there will be no more episodes ordered beyond these nine. As always, we are committed to keeping fans updated with news of an airdate, as soon as we hear it we will let you know!

For now though, if our WGTS have not checked out Hugh Dillon's Durham County, we recommend it. Hugh plays Mike Sweeney, a softspoken detective, who is dealing with the breakup of his family, and just being a guy who is trying to do the right thing. It's a much darker series than Flashpoint, but Hugh's performance is a must-see! New episodes are currently airing on HBO Canada, and reruns from last season pop up on Showcase. Check your local listings for more!